Husbands/Partners: What do you wish you'd been told when your partner was diagnosed with PP & why?

[andrea_at_app]

Was there anything you feel you should have been told & weren't? What would've been helpful to hear & would have made things easier in the early days? What would be your top 10 tips for other partners/husbands?

[Catharine]

Dear Andrea

Thank you for this question, which I hope will encourage our partners and husbands to become more pro-active in supporting us through this forum. I have asked my husband how he would answer this question. His response was that as it is nearly 27 years since my diagnosis he feels that his opinions are no longer relevant. The issues that happened to us were very specific and he suggests were probably due to incompetence of the staff at that time, due to lack of knowledge. He says what he wished he'd been told then was not, that I might never recover, having been sectioned. My illness is still a subject we find difficult to talk about and we tend to come to the same conclusions that having survived the experience, it is important to move on, and put this time in our lives behind us. With any new experiences as human beings, we hopefully can learn from them, and I hope we can all come to accept that life for everyone can never straight forward, without sadnesses and memories good, and bad.

I look forward to reading more answers to your question!

[andrea_at_app Volunteer]

Hi Catharine, thanks for the reply. Even though it's 27 years since your diagnosis I think your husband's point about the lack of knowledge of some professionals is sadly, still relevant today. When you were sectioned, being told that you might never recover is just awful! Yes it can be so hard to talk about such a difficult time of your life, even for years afterwards - that's why I love this forum as it gives us the chance to talk about things if we want to. It sounds like you've got a great attitude & I agree that when you're ready it's important to move on. I'm looking forward to reading more comments & views from partners when they find their way to this thread too!